Academy Homecare Services

Updated 15 May 2019

The inspection: We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection checked whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team: The inspection team consisted of one adult social care inspector and an expert by experience (EXE). An EXE is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type: Academy Homecare Limited is a domiciliary care service. People receive care and support in their own homes from staff who work for the service. CQC does not regulate the buildings in which people live, therefore this would not form part of our inspection.

The service had a manager at the time of the inspection, who was appropriately registered with the CQC.

Notice of inspection: We carried out this comprehensive inspection on 28 March 2019. The inspection was announced 48 hours prior to our visit in line with our inspection methodology to ensure it could be facilitated on this day by the registered manager. Inspection site visit activity started and ended on 28 March 2019. We visited the office location on 28 March 2019 to see the registered manager and office staff, to review care records and policies and procedures. We also spoke with people and their relatives on the telephone to gather their views on the service.

What we did: Prior to the inspection we reviewed information and evidence we already held about the service, which had been collected via our ongoing monitoring of care services. This included notifications sent to us by the service. Notifications are changes, events or incidents that the provider is legally obliged to send to us without delay. We also asked for feedback from the local authority and professionals who worked closely with the service. We received no information of concern.

During the inspection we spoke with the registered manager, the care manager, two care co-ordinators and two care staff. We spoke with seven people who used the service and five relatives.

We reviewed records relating to the care people were receiving, including four care plans and risk assessments and medication administration records (MARs). We reviewed other records relating to the running of a domiciliary care agency including; three staff personnel records, records of training and supervision, policies and procedures and audits of the service.

Updated 15 May 2019

About the service:

Academy Homecare Services is a domiciliary care service based in Kingswinford, a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley. It provides care to people within their own homes, predominantly in the surrounding areas of Kingswinford. The service is operated by the provider, Academy Homecare Services Limited. At the time of the inspection there were 85 people using the service. The majority of those were receiving traditional packages of homecare support but some people were in receipt of reablement support, potentially for a short period of time, as commissioned by the local authority.

People’s experience of using this service:

¿ The service continued to be good in all areas and this was reflected in the feedback we received from both people who used the service and their relatives.

¿ People receiving a service said they felt safe, with staff demonstrating a good understanding about how to protect people from the risk of harm.

¿ Staff were recruited safely, with appropriate checks carried out to ensure there were no risks presented to people using the service.

¿ There were enough staff to care for people safely and people told us staff always arrived to deliver their care. When staff were going to be late they were kept informed by the service.

¿ People received their medication as prescribed where this support was required.

¿ Staff received the training and support they needed to carry out their roles competently. They had regular supervisions and annual appraisals and received good support from management. This enabled staff to provide safe and effective care for people.

¿ People received the support they required to eat and drink at meal times. Staff recognised the importance of food and fluids and encouraged people with these to promote good health and well-being.

¿ People who used the service and relatives made positive comments about the care provided. The feedback we received from people we spoke with was that staff were patient, kind and caring in their approach. People told us that staff often went over and above what was required of them.

¿ People were treated with dignity and respect and staff promoted their independence as required.

¿ People knew how to make a complaint. There was a complaints process in place. No formal complaints had been received at the time of this inspection although we saw that some concerns raised with management informally had been addressed.

¿ Appropriate systems were in place to monitor the quality of service being provided, with a variety of audits, spot checks, reviews and competency assessments used to check the quality of service being provided.

¿ We received positive feedback about the management and leadership of the agency. Everybody we spoke with said they would recommend the service. Staff said they felt valued and supported and could approach the registered manager and care manager with any concerns they had.

Rating at last inspection:

At the last inspection of Academy Homecare Services the service was rated good (published 16 May 2016).

Why we inspected:

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up:

We will continue to monitor information and intelligence we receive about the service to ensure good quality care is provided to people. We will return to re-inspect in line with our inspection timescales for ‘Good’ rated services, however if any further information of concern is received, we may inspect sooner.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk